3 roster moves that would immediately improve the Pirates’ offense

If you’ve been watching any of the Pittsburgh Pirates this year, you know that their offense is struggling, and that’s putting it lightly. There has been some bad luck at hand, but there’s still plenty of dead weight the Pirates can cut in favor of better options with much more potential. The Pirates shouldn’t let this get out of hand. They should make some moves as soon as possible, and these three roster decisions are ones they could make right now to improve the line-up.

3 roster decisions Pirates can make immediately to improve offense

Option Enmanuel Valdez, recall Nick Yorke

When Nick Gonzales hit the injured list, the first player the Pirates recalled was Enmanuel Valdez. The infielder was acquired from the Boston Red Sox this past winter, but has done very little since his promotion. In his first 10 games and 29 plate appearances, he’s collected just four hits, three of which have gone for extra bases, while also piling up eight strikeouts and only two walks. He posted as many total bases as K’s in that time.

Valdez has flashed decent raw power. The infielder has a career 88.8 MPH exit velocity and 9.4% barrel percentage, both of which are above average. But Valdez’s raw power is about his only tool that is better than average. His 23.2% whiff rate and 28.7% chase rate are both roughly average. Valdez has consistently sat below the 30th percentile of sprint speed. His defense has also graded out as extremely poor. Valdez had -11 defensive runs saved and -12 outs above average at second base in less than 1000 innings (824.2, to be exact) heading into this season.

If the Pirates want a batter who has potential and way more upside, then they need to replace Valdez with Nick Yorke. Yorke was one of the Pirates’ biggest trade deadline additions last season, as the Bucs acquired the former first -ound pick from the Boston Red Sox. Yorke hit very well for the Sox and Pirates’ Triple-A teams, with a .918 OPS, .409 wOBA, and 143 wRC+ across 344 plate appearances. 

When the Pirates called up Yorke in September, he flashed a ton of potential. He only had eight hits, but two were home runs. Yorke drew four walks and had a chase rate of only 24.4%. His batted ball data was also strong, with an 89.7 MPH exit velo and a 15.4% barrel rate, but he did strike out a dozen times and had a whiff rate of just over 30% at 31.7%. However, this wasn’t a problem in the minor leagues.

Yorke has displayed plus speed, and was in the 90th percentile of sprint speed in the Major Leagues during his limited stint. He has also shown he has versatility. Second base is his primary position, but he received playing time at third base, shortstop, all three outfield positions, and saw a few games at first base in spring training.

If Gonzales is going to be out for a while, then Yorke should be his replacement until further notice. Valdez’s only strong suit (power potential) isn’t even that far ahead of Yorke to be considered that big of an advantage. Yorke has plenty more speed, defense, versatility, the potential to hit for more average, and power.